Improvement in wash-boards



bingsiu'face of the board.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

JAMES T. SARGENT, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO JOSEPH H. LAPHAM, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN WASH-BOARDS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 207,134, dated August 20, 1878 applicaticn filed July 19, 187s.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, JAMES T. SARGENT, of Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and Improved Wash-Board; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and complete description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of the same.

This improvement in wash-boards relates to the means employed for preventing the soap from being soaked and wasted when left upon the shelf of the board, and also to prevent the accumulation of dirt. about the joints of the said shelf.

In the use of the ordinary wash-board it is well known that the shelf upon which the soap is placed soon allows an accumulation of water, owing to the closing up of the opening for the escape of water at the top of the rub- The secretion of dirt and the expansion of the wood prevent the water from passing off from the shelf as it is thrown up in washing, which dissolves and wastes the soap, and at the same time renders the upper portion of the board more or less unclean.

The object of this improvement is to render the wash-board in no way subject to such objections, and is attained by havin g the shelf or upper part of the wash-board made movable or self-adjustable, so that the head-board of the shelf will fall or move back by its own gravity sufficiently to admit of an open space for the escape ot' water from the ledge or shelf upon which the soap is placed, the adjustability of the headboard freely admitting of all dirt and secretions being readilyreinoved.

For a more full description of the said im provement, reference will be had to the following speciiication, and to the annexed drawings, in which- Figure l is a front view of the wash-board, and Fig. 2 a longitudinal section..

Like letters of reference refer to like parts in the drawings.

The wash-board herein representedis of thc kind known as double rubbers,77 and to which the improvement is as applicable as to I* the single rubber.

The essential features of the invention re=I late to the movable head-board A and the recess in each of the side pieces B C, which may be angular or curved. One of said recesses is shown at D.

The upper side of the head-board is received into a groove, E, of the cross-piece F, and the lower side or edge extends to the back-board G, to which the rubber is connected on one or both sides. yThe dotted lines I K in Fig. 2 indicate the position of the head-board when the wash-board is in use.

It will be observed that the base of the angular recess is much wider than the top, and

that it extends beyond the back-board Gr, which permits the lower side of the headboard to vibrate from a to c, Fig. 2, while the top of the head-board remains in the groove E. In case the side H is used, then the headboard will move back to the shoulder I of the recess to a position indicated by the dotted lines I', Fig. 2, which leaves an opening at e between the top of the back-board Gr and the headboard A the entire length of both; and when the side J is used, then the head-board will `drop back to the opposite shoulder of the recess to a position indicated by the dotted line K, leaving an opening, i, between thc sides B C. By this arrangement the head board will vibrate from one side to the other, according to which of the rubbers H and J is used, so that all the water which may be thrown up onto the head-board will pass off through one of the openings e t', depending upon which side of the wash-board is used, and as the soap is placed upon the ledge or shelf formed by the top of the back-board G, it follows that it cannot be wasted by soaking in water lodged upon said shelf, :as is the ordinary way, and by this means the dirt and secretions which accumulate about the ordinary head-board and its connections are washed away.

In place of the triangular recess D for the vibration of the headboard., the said recess may be formed with its sides at right angles, as noted by the dotted lines L, Fig. 2. In such case the head-board would move from one side to the other of the recess, instead of vibrating.

The head-board may be perforated or an providedwith angular recesses to receive the opening made at the base, as seen in Fig. 1, ends of said head-board, respectively, conto aid in carrying off the Water from the ledge structed and arranged substantially as and or shelf before mentioned. for the purpose set forth.

What I claim as my invention, and desire JAMES T. SARGENT. to secure by Letters Patent, is- Witnesses:

The combination, in a Wash-board, of the W. H. BURRIDGE,

movable head-board A and the side pieces E. ELVOTH. 

